


Love Is A Battlefield (The Heartache Remix)

by Glyphhunter



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Getting Together, M/M, Pre-Poly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 10:21:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19868005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glyphhunter/pseuds/Glyphhunter
Summary: "He's a bit oblivious, isn't he?" he sighs."Absolutely clueless."The deadpan delivery draws a snort out of him. It’s unexpected enough that Keith starts laughing which sets him off and before he knows it, they’re both stifling their laughter against the info panel.--It's Shiro's turn to tell his side of the whole debacle they made.





	Love Is A Battlefield (The Heartache Remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [War of Hearts](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17805710) by [hazel333](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hazel333/pseuds/hazel333). 



It starts with a new student. A transfer, likely from another time slot of the same class. Probably someone he's seen in passing considering it's still somewhat near the start of term. It’s likely but all the same, Shiro wonders how he could've missed him. 

_ Matt, _ a small part of him whispers.  _ You were too distracted by Matt. _ Matt, with his pretty eyes and wicked intellect that sends lesser men crying and–

_ Not the time. _

Shiro blinks, eyes drawn to the way the guys hair falls and rests on his shoulders, black as night. He follows the curve of the muscles in his arms as he adjusts his grip on the shoulder bag he’s carrying by the strap. His voice carries a rasp that sets shivers down Shiro's spine. When the professor directs him towards the room with a wave of his arm, he's grossly unprepared for the sharp jaw and angled brow. The eyes so dark Shiro can't tell if they're blue or violet.

He doesn't think his mouth has been so dry in his entire life. Not even when he accidentally catches Matt just out of the shower.

He isn't able to see the man up close. Shiro is sat firmly in the middle of the lecture hall and the man takes one of the empty seats at the front. He's not sure if it's a curse or a blessing that he only has the back of his head to look at for the rest of the hour.

–– 

A curse, it's definitely a curse.

Of course, the lecture period is the time when Professor Montgomery drops a pop quiz on them. Shiro is so frazzled that he spends most of the 10 minutes given to them staring at the back of the new guy’s head like he’s going to find the formula needed in the graceful fall of his hair. He only barely manages to eek out an answer before they’re told to hand their pages in and by the time the actual lecture is in full swing, he’s forgotten what he’d written all together.

New guy looks as cool as a cucumber, though, reclined in his chair after the first five minutes with his cheek propped in his palm. 

Shiro swallows hard and wishes he’d remembered to bring his water bottle. Maybe he could text Matt to bring it during the break. He’s not doing anything ‘til later anyway. Yeah. Yeah, that works.

He’s got his phone out and the message half typed before his thoughts catch up and he realizes the consequences if he follows through. Matt will show up. Matt will notice that him being ‘thirsty’ is a very loose term. Matt will proceed to wheedle out every single detail before the break is out and Shiro will have to spend the rest of the class trying to keep his ‘thirst’ lowkey so the guy won’t notice. 

He’s having a hard enough time as it is and he doesn’t even know his  _ name. _

He’s fine, he determines. He’ll have a drink from the fountain, then he’ll find Matt over lunch. No problem. He’s fine.

It’s fine.

–– 

It's not fine. 

His name is Keith and he's as smart as a whip. The discussion period hammered that fact home so thoroughly he's pretty sure half the class is still dazed from it. He can’t be older than 20 either, younger than most of the class and really, he shouldn’t be making the whole thing look so  _ easy. _

Shiro flees the room to the sound of Keith's laugh echoing up from his desk. One of the other younger students, Hunk, stands next to him. The cause of Keith's laughter no doubt. The reason that Shiro knows he's screwed. The nerve he had built up during the break to go and talk to him after is non-existent. Crushed. Buried deep within the wells of his own heart. 

He needs help. He needs Matt.

Matt knows how to talk to people.

“Matt!”

–– 

Three weeks. It’s been three weeks. 

He’d talked to Matt, plead his case. Requested assistance, received acknowledgement and all that. Assistance being, 'talk to him for me because I'm a mess, please and thank you'. Admittedly, he did kind of slide that in while Matt was barely paying attention before running off and maybe he shouldn’t have done that  _ but. _

It was alright in the end. Matt seems to be enjoying himself. Got a new friend out of the deal and so on. Matt tells him stories. Over the movies they're supposed to be watching at the time but still. 

There's stories. Keith sounds like a great person like Shiro knew he would be. But all Shiro has been doing is pining and waiting and wishing he’d had the courage to talk to Keith himself that first day. 

A thought strikes him. He blinks at the ceiling and the line of water damage from when the neighbours above were flooded. He rolls off the couch, nervous energy surging through him as he paces the apartment. He probably still could. Without looking like a fool.

They share a class, it wouldn't be too far out there for Shiro to just walk up to him. There's gonna be a group project coming up soon so he could use that as an excuse. Not that it's much of an excuse, really, 'cause he gets the feeling that Keith is the kind of person to put his all into his work and he needs someone like that on his team if he wants a strong mark for midterms. He could probably grab Hunk and Ina too before someone else snatches them up for themselves and creates stronger competition which is something he doesn't want to face without Matt there to back him up and balance the score. 

Friday, he'll have to do it Friday if he wants any chance of getting his team before Montgomery takes initiative and starts assigning groups. After that it's smooth sailing. 

He grins and drops a fist into his palm. Good talk, Shirogane, time for a drink.

He has a water bottle from the fridge and he's barely taken a sip when the door slams open.

"I got you date!" Matt shouts and Shiro chokes on the water instead.

–– 

The 'date', it turns out, is the day before Shiro's whole plan is scheduled to go down. Which isn't too bad, he's already given himself the pep talk. He's not gonna be a complete mess. But he's been waiting on the front steps of the Planetarium for 10 minutes now and his nerves are quickly tanking.

He scans the steady stream of people approaching the building between looking at his phone every 30 seconds. Arbitrarily checking the time even though he's not late and Keith's not technically late but maybe they missed each other and Keith is waiting for him inside while he's out here. 

He cranes his neck, tries to see inside, but it's hard when the sun's bright and just reflects everything off the glass. He takes a step closer.

"Shiro?" The call comes from the bottom the steps and Shiro whips around. Keith is there, blinking up at him before a crooked smile spreads across his face. 

"Y'know, when Matt said a friend of his was coming instead, I didn't expect it to be you." 

"N-no?"

Keith shakes his head and the smile turns rueful, giving his phone a final glance before he shoves it in a pocket. "At least I'm not with a complete stranger. Shall we go?"

Shiro watches as he climbs the steps, barely pulling himself together to nod in response. They don't say anything as they enter and getting their tickets is a quiet affair. By the time they reach the first exhibit, a collection about the first astronomers around the world, Keith has pulled out and put away his phone three times. A thought forms, making his stomach twist uncomfortably. 

He sits with it for a bit, trying to focus on the information in front of him as they walk. They're about halfway through when Shiro realizes he hasn't retained any of it. It's quiet. There's a video playing in a room further on. He can hear the low murmur of people talking near the entrance. Keith has gone for his phone five more times even though Shiro knows there's been no difference.

"You…" Keith looks at him, eyes wide and gleaming even in the dim lighting, and Shiro needs to take a moment to collect himself. "This wasn't." He tries again. "You didn't-" He huffs and Keith looks away but not before Shiro notices the amused quirk of his lips.

"This was supposed to be a date, wasn't it." He finally gets out. "With Matt," he adds when Keith doesn't answer right away. It's a moment where Keith's hand twitches towards his phone before his head jerks in a nod. Shiro turns towards the panel in front of him.

"I'm sorry." He can feel his neck start to burn with embarrassment. "I asked him to talk to you since I was too nervous to talk to you myself. And I guess, long the way, signals got crossed. I should've talked to you myself and for that I'm sorry." 

Keith looks at him but Shiro keeps his gaze locked on the words in front of him, not that he's absorbing any of it. He's starting to think that this probably wasn't a good idea.

"I'm not."

"Huh?"

"Sorry. I'm not." Shiro's pretty sure he's gaping as Keith shuffles on the spot. "If you hadn't, then I wouldn't have met him as I did. He would've been 'Matt, Shiro's friend', instead of, 'Matt, that fool from the library that pretended to need help when he clearly didn't'. I think I got a better first impression from that."

"So, what? Now I'm classified as the friend?" Shiro tries to laugh it off but Keith is already shaking his head, smirk playing at his lips. 

"You're the one from astrophysics that's either constantly sick, or perpetually blushing," he says and Shiro sputters. Heat flares up his neck to his ears, soon to encompass his face, and Keith has the decency to look away as he laughs. "I'm glad to see it's nothing bad."

Shiro turns away, staring at the display behind the panel before them. It's an infographic about early astrolabes, something Shiro's read about extensively since middle school. It doesn't distract from the situation at hand. He feels the heat start to fade as they let the conversation lull and Shiro's thoughts drift.

"He's a bit oblivious, isn't he?" he sighs. 

"Absolutely clueless." 

The deadpan delivery draws a snort out of him. It’s unexpected enough that Keith starts laughing which sets him off and before he knows it, they’re both stifling their laughter against the info panel. 

“How does this happen?” Shiro gasps and Keith's shaking his head as he murmurs into his hands. They wander off to the side and collapse on a nearby bench as they collect themselves. Another group passes them by but not without a few strange looks. 

"So you also…" Keith trails off as his laughter fades and Shiro nods to the question left unspoken. "How long?"

Shiro shrugs. "High school? Maybe? It wasn’t really a thing I was conscious of and by the time I realized I loved him, we were preparing for university.” He sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “He told me once that he wasn’t looking for romance."

"So you hid it." 

"Yeah."

Shiro can feel Keith watching him as he fidgets, picking at the miniscule bits of dirt under his nails. They both sit in the quiet and watch another group slowly pass them by. It's not long before Shiro gets antsy, knee bouncing with excess energy until he suddenly stands. Keith makes a noise, somewhat startled and he's wide eyed when Shiro turns toward him.

"Let's keep going," he says. “Might as well make the most of it, right?” Keith blinks at him, mouth opening like he’s going to say something before he huffs a laugh and stands as well. 

"Will this be a date for us, then?" he asks.

"Would you like it to be?"

Keith's face softens, losing a bit of the humour as he gives Shiro a once over. "Yeah, I don't think I'll mind," he says. "We already have something in common."

"You mean it's not space? Oh, god, whatever could it be?"

"Shiro!" Keith laughs, giving his shoulder a shove as they continue through the exhibit. By the end of the day, Shiro counts it as a win. 

–– 

The win starts to feel stale two weeks later when he realizes Matt's avoiding him. It's Friday. He's standing with Keith outside the labs, phone to his ear as it, one again, goes to voicemail. It's supposed to be their date night He knows the man's not sick anymore, Iverson told him so, and if there was a project that he needed to focus on, there was usually a heads up.

Not… this. Not radio silence. There's not even an attempt at agreeing to hang with them anymore.

"He's avoiding us." Keith crosses his arms as Shiro lets the phone drop. He looks… not mad. Disappointed, maybe. Shiro can only nod in response. 

"Well, there's only one course of action we can take," Keith announces, dropping his arms to prop his hands on his hips.

"What's that?"

"If he won't come to us, we'll go to him. You know where he lives, right?" 

Shiro blinks. "Ah, yeah, but-" He steals another glance at his phone.

"C'mon." Keith takes his wrist and starts walking towards the exit. "I'm not about to let our friend just cut us out with no explanation. I'll explain the rest in the car."

The 'rest' apparently involves a drive-in and practically strong arming Matt into accompanying them. After hearing the whole plan, it's Shiro’s own foot shoving the door open. They get a shriek and a book as a shield but Shiro has a feeling that’ll probably be the worst of it. He senses another win to come out of the end of the night. 

Well, he hopes so anyway. 

Regardless of the fact that Shiro still loves him, he never wants to lose Matt’s friendship and he knows Keith feels the same. Hopefully, they'll get Matt to understand.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This was supposed to be posted much sooner but the long and short of it was that I simply forgot. So sorry! Thank you so much to the remix mod for letting me step in, I had a blast with this!


End file.
